“ | Why don't I get Beth and we'll go out for ice cream? |
— Diane's last words |
Diane Sanchez is the deceased wife of Rick Sanchez and the mother of Beth Sanchez.
Diane's death was the defining moment in Rick's life that made him into who he is. The story of Diane has been the overarching mystery of the series from Season 1 up until Season 5. She was murdered by another Rick via an explosion from a futuristic bomb. The trauma from her murder caused Rick to spiral into a vengeful rampage, sending him on a journey to avenge his dead wife by finding the Rick that killed her.
As revealed in "Unmortricken", After Diane C-137's death, Rick Prime used the Omega Device to kill one of her counterparts, effectively erasing Diane across infinity.
Appearance[]
Diane Sanchez was a slim, fair-skinned woman with medium-length light blonde hair. She had plump cheeks, an upturned nose, prominent punch-pink lips, and several freckles on her heart-shaped face.
The only outfit she has been canonically shown wearing so far consists of a light turquoise blouse, white jeans, gray cone heels, a silver pendant necklace, a violet bangle on her right arm, and a gold wedding ring on her left ring finger.
In "Fear No Mort," however, a simulation of Diane inside the Fear Hole is shown wearing different outfits aside from her usual attire. This includes her in a light turquoise nightgown paired with a dark blue robe, and another outfit where she wears a turquoise halter dress, gray cone heels, and a pearl bracelet.
Biography[]
Diane was Rick's wife and Beth's mother. Not much has been revealed about what her relationship with Rick was actually like due to conflicting statements over the course of the series. However, it can be discerned that they had a happy marriage, as shown in the (only partially fabricated) flashback in "The Rickshank Rickdemption". Mr. Nimbus appears to have known Rick long enough to at least know who Diane was, although it is unclear if he actually met her (as shown in "Mort Dinner Rick Andre").
However, Rick's marriage to Diane was ruined when another Rick, annoyed at Rick's refusal to explore the universe like other Ricks, murdered Diane and a young Beth using an explosive that destroyed Rick's house. As shown in "Rickmurai Jack", Rick spent the next several decades of his life systematically murdering various Ricks across the multiverse, trying to find the one who took his wife and child away from him. However, he was unsuccessful in his endeavor, and after founding The Citadel, he decided his best bet was to instead settle down in the dimension the other Rick came from. Since that Rick had abandoned his family, Rick reasoned he could give them the relief of having him back in their lives while also allowing him to wait for that Rick to return so he could finally have his revenge.
Rick avoids revealing much about his relationship with Diane to Morty for a good portion of the series. He even avoids telling the audience, deliberately pretending the backstory from "The Rickshank Rickdemption" is fabricated and interrupting Mr. Nimbus from establishing a "canonical backstory". Eventually, Morty finally learns about it in "Rickmurai Jack" due to the actions of Evil Morty and tries to sympathize, but Rick brushes it off and says "Now everyone can shut up about it."
As revealed in "Solaricks," at some point over the years Rick created an AI-version of Diane to "haunt" him at his old house in Dimension C-137. This AI would always sound like she was calling to him from the other room, constantly reminding him of his failure to save her and urging him to get revenge on her and Beth's murderer. Rick re-encountered this AI when he was returned to his home dimension after trying to reset his portal fluid, where he declared it was time for him to move on from her and Beth's deaths as he now had a family in a different dimension to care for. However, the Diane AI reasoned that, if Rick had reset by Rick's portal fluid error, Rick Prime would also have been reset to the Prime Dimension. Rick nearly started his revenge quest once more but was talked out of it by Morty, unaware that the Diane AI had been correct.
As revealed by Rick Prime in "Unmortricken", after killing Rick C-137's Diane, he repeated the process on the Dianes of other Ricks who had likewise turned down his offer before eventually using a weapon called the Omega Device to kill Diane in every universe across infinity. As a result, Diane is deceased in all of the dimensions Rick settled in, including the Prime Dimension, Dimension C-131, and the Parmesan dimension. When other Ricks began hunting Prime in revenge for killing Diane, Prime built a Saw-style trap to take care of them, deploying a kill-bot wearing Diane's face as a final foe. After Rick C-137 survived the trap, he managed to track down Prime and finally avenge Diane by killing his counterpart.
In "Fear No Mort", Morty ventures into a Fear Hole, during which he and Rick encounter a version of Diane who survived the bombing due to her Rick sacrificing himself. Morty easily guesses that she (along with, he later learns, the Rick who ostensibly followed him) is a manifestation of the Fear Hole, given the Omega Device would negate any possibility of Diane coming back. The real Rick learns of her appearance later on and briefly considers jumping into the Fear Hole in hopes of seeing Diane one last time, but decides against it.
Diane from the other dimensions[]
Prime Dimension[]
Rick and Diane Prime, as recounted by their daughter, had a horrible relationship, Rick Prime growing to hate his wife so much that he abandoned her before killing her alternate selves and later wiping her out across infinity, even going so far as to mock his counterparts for being attached to their "beloved Diane" and C-137 for basing the Space Cruiser's voice on Diane's. When Rick was still pretending to be Prime, he in "Rick Potion No. 9", noted that Rick and Diane Prime had a "failing" marriage, a comment that received no correction or pushback from the Prime family.
Dimension C-131[]
While still pretending to be Rick C-131 in "The Wedding Squanchers", Rick suggests that Rick and Diane C-131 had a less than happy marriage that ultimately fell apart. Rick remarked "I couldn't make a marriage work and I can turn a black hole into a sun".
At the conclusion of "Auto Erotic Assimilation", Beth C-131 insists to Rick that she could never sacrifice her family's safety just to keep him in her life. At this point, Beth realizes that she sounds like her mother, suggesting that Diane C-131 valued the family's safety over her husband's scientific experiments.
Episode Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- "Pilot" (mentioned)
- "Rick Potion No. 9" (mentioned)
Season 2[]
- "Auto Erotic Assimilation" (mentioned)
Season 3[]
- "The Rickshank Rickdemption" (flashback)
- "The ABC's of Beth" (mentioned)
Season 4[]
- "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri" (flashback cameo)
Season 5[]
- "Mort Dinner Rick Andre" (mentioned)
- "Mortyplicity" (mentioned)
- "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort" (mentioned)
- "Rickmurai Jack" (flashback cameo)
Season 6[]
- "Solaricks" (mentioned)
- "Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation" (mentioned)
Season 7[]
- "How Poopy Got His Poop Back" (mentioned)
- "Unmortricken" (mentioned, likeness)
- "Wet Kuat Amortican Summer" (mentioned)
- "Fear No Mort" (Fear Hole)
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Season 7 | ✔ |
Behind the Scenes[]
Until "Mort Dinner Rick Andre", the identity of Rick's wife and Beth's mother was ambiguous due to the nature of the flashback in "The Rickshank Rickdemption". The manner in which Rick denied being driven by a "totally fabricated backstory" led many to conclude the entire flashback was a ruse to fool his interrogator, indicating that her cause of death, as well as her name and appearance would remain unclear. However, in "Mort Dinner Rick Andre", Diane is referenced by Mr. Nimbus, to which Rick angrily berates him for "establishing canonical backstory". "Rickmurai Jack" eventually revealed the entire story was true, and the "fabricated" part was how Rick came up with the portal fluid formula. Dan Harmon admitted he always viewed the "Shoney's revelation" as Rick's true backstory, but avoided confirming it in "The Rickshank Rickdemption" because he thought it was too early in the show's run to be imposing canon.[1]
Harmon has said on multiple occasions that she was "unremarkable", later suggesting she was more comparable to Jerry, and that this was connected to Beth's idolization of Rick.[2][3][4] However, while the depiction of Diane and Rick's relationship in "Fear No Mort" is a simulation of the Fear Hole, both the showrunners and episode writer Heather Anne Campbell believe it is accurate to their true personalities: Diane is "sharp-tongued with him," and she "finds the nihilistic, dark [stuff] that he's doing funny" — the kinds of things that Rick would love, and did once upon a time.[5]
Trivia[]
- Diane's only presence in the show (thus far) has been through references, flashbacks, tech in her likeness, and simulations[1].
- Despite only appearing as a supernatural simulation, "Fear No Mort" marks her first major appearance yet.
- Diane is voiced by Kari Wahlgren, the same actress who voices Jessica, the Space Cruiser and the Garage AI, among others. The fact that Rick had originally created an AI with Diane's voice in Dimension C-137 suggests some unknown link to the Space Cruiser and Garage AI. This was confirmed in "Unmortricken".
- In "Solaricks" and in "Wet Kuat Amortican Summer", Rick mentions that Summer reminds him of her grandmother. This implies that she and Diane have similar personality traits.
- Before Diane was confirmed to be the actual maternal grandmother of Summer and Morty, Giahna Pantano, an artist who did alternative covers for two issues of Oni Press' Rick and Morty comics, created a character named "Bonnie Sinclair" to fill the roles of Rick's wife and Beth's mother[6].